1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission system and transmission method, a reception system and reception method, and a transmission/reception system. More particularly, this invention is concerned with a transmission system and transmission method, a reception system and reception method, and a transmission/reception system which are preferably employed in distributing data to numerous databases managed according to distributed database techniques, in distributing data according to the Internet protocol (IP) multicast technique, or in distributing data to numerous destinations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various proposals have been made of a system for distributing data (what is referred to as a system is a logical conglomerate of a plurality of apparatuses but does not count on whether or not the apparatuses of different configurations are integrated into the same housing). For example, xe2x80x9cBroadia,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cPointCast I-Server,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCastanetxe2x80x9d have been introduced as computer programs for allowing a computer to function as a so-called push type distributed system that utilizes the Internet or an intranet, which has prevailed rapidly these days, and that enables a user to have desired news or any other information distributed to his/her terminal in the same manner as he/she has a newspaper delivered every morning. Incidentally, Castanet allows a user to have not only information but also computer programs distributed. Note that xe2x80x9cCastanetxe2x80x9d and the like are trademarks given by the manufacturing firms.
By the way, as far as a push type distributed system is concerned, for receiving information, it is necessary to access a server managing and storing the information in advance at a terminal and then request the server to distribute desired information. When accesses from numerous terminals are concentrated on the server, a load on the server increases. Consequently, it takes much time for a user to receive the desired information or the like.
The present invention attempts to break through the foregoing situation. An object of the present invention is to enable quick and efficient distribution of data.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission system comprising: an allocating means for allocating a resource, which is necessary to transmit data over a broadcast network, to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database; a structuring means for structuring transmission data to be transmitted over the broadcast network on the basis of the amount of update data and the resource allocated to the update data; and a transmitting means for transmitting the transmission data over the broadcast network according to the quantity of the resource allocated by the allocating means.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, a transmission method is characterized in that: a resource necessary to transmit data over a broadcast network is allocated to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database; transmission data to be transmitted over the broadcast network is structured on the basis of the amount of update data and the resource allocated to the update data; and the transmission data is transmitted over the broadcast network according to the allocated quantity of the resource.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission system comprising: a structuring means for structuring at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself is arranged, and the data of the second format, in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged, in relation to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database; an allocating means for allocating at least a portion of a resource necessary to transmit data over a broadcast network to the data of the second format; and a transmitting means for transmitting the data of the second format as transmission data over the broadcast network according to the quantity of the resource allocated by the allocating means.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a transmission method is characterized in that: at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself is arranged and the data of the second format, in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged, is structured in relation to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database; at least a portion of a resource necessary to transmit data over a broadcast network is allocated to the data of the second format; and the data of the second format is transmitted as transmission data over the broadcast network according to the allocated quantity of the resource.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reception system comprising: a receiving means for receiving at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database is arranged, and the data of the second format in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged; a requesting means for issuing a request for update data, concerning which the fact that data has been updated is reported by the update report information arranged in the data of the second format; and a communicating means for communicating with the database over a bi-directional network enabling bi-directional communication. The communicating means transmits a request for update data issued from the requesting means to the database over the bi-directional network, and receives update data transmitted from the database over the bi-directional network in response to the request.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a reception method is characterized in that: at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database is arranged, and the data of the second format in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged is received; a request for update data, concerning which the fact that data has been updated is reported by update report information arranged in the data of the second format is transmitted to the database over a bi-directional network enabling bi-directional communication; and update data transmitted from the database over the bi-directional network in response to the request is received.
In the transmission system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the allocating means allocates a resource necessary to transmit data over the broadcast network to update data, which has updated, out of data stored in the database, and the structuring means structures transmission data to be transmitted over the broadcast network on the basis of the amount of update data and the resource allocated to the update data. The transmitting means transmits transmission data over the broadcast network according to the quantity of the resource allocated by the allocating means.
In the transmission method according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a resource necessary to transmit data over the broadcast network is allocated to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in the database. Transmission data to be transmitted over the broadcast network is structured on the basis of the amount of update data and the resource allocated to the update data, and the transmission data is transmitted over the broadcast network according to the allocated quantity of the resource.
In the transmission system according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the structuring means structures at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself is arranged and the data of the second format, in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged, in relation to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in a database. The allocating means allocates at least a portion of a resource necessary to carry out transmission over the broadcast network to the data of the second format. The transmitting means transmits the data of the second format as transmission data over the broadcast network according to the quantity of the resource allocated by the allocating means.
In the transmission method according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself is arranged and the data of the second format in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged is structured in relation to update data, which has been updated, out of data stored in the database. At least a portion of the resource necessary to carry out transmission over the broadcast network is allocated to the data of the second format. The data of the second format is transmitted as transmission data over the broadcast network according to the allocated quantity of the resource.
In the reception system according to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the receiving means receives at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself, which has been updated, out of data stored in the database is arranged and the data of the second format in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged, and the requesting means issues a request for update data, concerning which the fact that data has been updated is reported by the update report information arranged in the data of the second format. The communicating means communicates with the database over the bi-directional network enabling bi-directional communication. In other words, the communicating means transmits the request for update data issued by the requesting means to the database over the bi-directional network, and receives the update data to be transmitted from the database over the bi-directional network in response to the request.
In the reception method according to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, at least data of a second format out of data of a first format in which update data itself, which has been updated, out of data stored in the database is arranged, and the data of the second format in which update report information indicating that data has been updated is arranged is received. A request for update data, concerning which the fact that data has been updated is reported by the update report information arranged in the data of the second format, is transmitted to the database over the bi-directional network enabling bi-directional communication. The update data transmitted from the database over the bi-directional network in response to the request is received.